Sarazen's Claim, Book One (17 page)

The silence that followed was deafening. She didn’t understand where all this profound sounding bullshit was coming from. She had never been this…long winded and confrontational before. Get a rise in rank, some crushing responsibility, and apparently she turned into a hell of a philosophical crazy person. A philosophical crazy person who felt like someone had just sliced a hole through her heart. She felt like an emotional basket case, the wave of disbelief that had overwhelmed her when Brennaugh had explained a few more of the details of what went down at the breeding festival, that would have been key pieces of information to know before she’d talked her people into allowing themselves to become potential mates to a race of warrior aliens.

Predatory, warrior aliens.

The kind who hunted their mates down in forests like game.

Her chest hurt from holding back the sobs that built, and she didn’t really know where the pressure came from that made her want to cry so badly. But there was this ache, this snapping pain at her sternum that had happened and now she was feeling adrift, lost. Alone. Tarek had had ample opportunity to explain the details of their mating customs to her, she’d asked, a lot. But he had doled out only pieces of information, not the whole story, and more and more this was sounding like a terrible idea. An extremely dangerous one. Did Tarek not understand? Not a single one of the humans alive on his ship, had ever seen a forest.

The planets they had been to were dead husks, barely any scrub brush or water, no sustainable life except for hungry predators. They didn’t know how to hunt, how to survive in the wilderness, let alone be part of some crazy ritualistic hunt amongst shapeshifting warrior aliens. There would be no sniffing out the Sarazens via a human nose. There would be running, and panic, and probably a lot of pain and suffering, but no finding. “I give you my word of honor. Your words are acknowledged, my lady. They will not be discarded and I will tell my warriors what you have told me. We will go and prepare the aerosol dispersal aboard my vessel.” She found some kind of gut strength to nod her thanks to Brennaugh, to answer him, “I’ll tell my crew you’ve arrived.”

They left the room and she stood there staring at the door they had gone through, just staring, trying not to feel anything at all. She thought she was going to make it until Tarek stepped in front of her and reached out to take her chin in his hand. She vibrated with the desire to shove away from him, slap at his hand, but it would be an exercise in futility, he wouldn’t understand and every argument in history was lost because of the overload of emotions. She had to keep it together. Somehow not fall apart. Somehow, she had to be strong. “Our bond, I felt it sever,” He stated, and she was somewhat glad to know that what she was feeling now, that tearing pain, was all her own. “When you told me about the breeding festival, you failed to mention anything about a hunt.”

“It did not matter at the time,”

“I told my people they could trust you. Trust me. I literally told them that they weren’t going to be hunted down and drug off by the hair. But unknowingly I lied to them, and you stood right there in front of all of them and didn’t say anything, about a hunt. How could you possibly think that wouldn’t matter?”

“Clary,”

“Is it going to be modified in any way to suit us?”

“No.”

She nodded as much as she could and lifted her eyes from his chest to look him dead in the eye and hoped to god that if he couldn’t feel her emotions, he could see it and smell it. Her absolute fury that made her entire body feel like it was on fire. Emotional basket case. Right here. “So let me see if I understand correctly. You and any potential mate, will go into a forest separately, hunt these potential mates down by scent, to prove that you can both find that one special one among several thousand other people.”

“That is the general idea, yes.”

“Did it occur to you, what an utterly fucking stupid idea that is?”

He blinked in surprise at her, and she lost what tenuous control she had on her temper. She did slap at his hand, wondering if her hair was going to catch on fire, “You’re going to put Andi, in a forest of predators, knowing full well that well over half life she was traumatized by a predator, who hunted her down to hurt her? Terrify her to the point where she might mentally fracture and be unable to look at Ohlen without screaming her head off?”

He opened his mouth to probably tell her that Ohlen would never hurt her, but she was on a roll now and there was no stopping. “You’re going to take humans who have never in their lives seen or set foot inside a forest. A forest filled with a predatory, alien race of warriors that we don’t know, leaving us utterly with no option but to fail because we don’t have any hunting or practical survival skills, or a beast inside us to rely on. No extra olfactory senses, no intuition, and expect us to somehow find you amidst what sounds like unmitigated chaos. Unless you’ve left out other important details to say that because of the blood you gave us, we’re going to change into a cat like you. Hmm? Were you going to wait until the day of, to explain the rules of this game to us? Were you going to explain at all?”

“I see your anger. I smell it. But I cannot feel it, you have closed your heart to me.”

“That’s what humans do, Tarek. We do not love or accept, what we do not trust.”

“I have lost your trust, because I did not explain the breeding festival rituals to you?”

“Because you have been telling me only what YOU think, I need to know. I am responsible for the people I brought on board your ship, and the ones who came after! They chose me, to be responsible for them. If it concerns us, in any way, I need to know it! They, need to know it! They need to understand the rules of your world to survive, it they don’t know the rules, they will survive in whatever way they can. It’s what we do.”

Seventeen

She walked into the common room and got the entire crew together, men and women, and updated them on what was going on. The festival, how their people were going to be found by Brennaugh and his warriors, everything she knew. Not surprisingly, some of the men were outraged and distrustful, and the women were frightened, rightfully so. Especially Andi. She paled and looked sick, Gwen went a little pale too, but Cassie just looked pissed. “You mean those big furry assholes, didn’t tell us about this hunt because they didn’t think we
needed
, to know? Fuck that!” She slapped her wrist unit and demanded that Falken get his ass to their quarters, now. “You’re diplomatic and I respect that. But clearly you didn’t grab your boy by the balls and demand some answers. Excuse me.”

She shoved back from the table, and she could hear her from the other room and had to roll her lips under to keep from smiling. “Did you just refuse to take me to my mate?” Cassie’s tight snarl was answered by a soothing rumble of sound, no doubt one of the warriors trying to calm her down, “Busy. He’s busy and cannot speak with me at this time. But he had enough time to tell you, he’s too busy to speak with me. I see. Well, fine. You take this, and with my compliments please relay to him that he can shove it up his ass.”

Cassie came back, the muscle above her eyebrow visibly twitching, cheeks bright with her anger and missing her wrist communicator. She sat down with a slow, deep breath and pressed her hands to the table top, “Gwen?” The little doctor nodded and tried to contact Ga’rae, “I cannot come to you now, my one. I am debriefing the Fifth medic on human physiology.” Gwen’s green eyes narrowed on the communicator on her wrist, and if Ga’rae had been able to see her face, he might have been worried by how sweet her voice was. “Perhaps you would care for the assistance of a human doctor?”

“No need, my one, enjoy your time with your sisters.” He sounded warm and sincere, but he’d done it now. She looked at Andi, and the dark haired girl touched her wrist unit with a shaking hand, “Ohlen?”

“Yes, little one?”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the hunt?”

“What hunt?”

“The breeding festival. Why didn’t you tell me that you were going to leave me alone in a forest full of predators, and hunt me like an animal?”

“I am coming to you now.”

Gwen and Cassie scowled, but Cassie reached over and took Andi’s hand and huffed. “It’s the delicate tone of your voice. He can’t resist it.” Andi managed a weak laugh and looked around at all of them, “I’ll get what I can,” Cassie snorted and confidently told the entire table that by tomorrow morning, they’d have the full tale. “I’m sorry.” All eyes swung to her, and she felt her bones ache as the guilt of the responsibility she’d failed to maintain, pressed down under those stares. “I understand if you no longer have confidence in me to lead our group. In all honesty I think the lot of you were crazy to pick me, and not even a good two weeks in, I’ve failed.”

She sat there ready to take their confirmation of having no confidence in her, and she was surprised when it was Tara who spoke up. She’d been thinking the engineer didn’t like her, but the dark haired woman snorted and shoved a hand through her thick hair. “These guys have an agenda, it’s not your fault they didn’t tell you what it is. The big guy in charge made it clear when Andi’s cat came for Ethan, that we might have potential mates among their kind. Don’t mean we have to accept them. He was pretty clear on where they stand about harming women, could be bullshit, but while I’m pissed that I agreed to this, I agreed and I for one am blaming no one but them for treating us like ignorant children. Cept for Andi’s cat. Seems to legitimately give a shit. I’m still down for letting you take the lead, you don’t bullshit us.”

The women shared the same sentiment, which made her feel like sinking deeper down into the chair, but in some perverse way it made her feel better that some of the men were questioning her. She was half hoping one of them wanted to take the responsibility from her, but though they grumbled, they didn’t vote her out. Ohlen suddenly came bursting into the common room, eyes only for Andi and he went right to her, kneeling by her seat to growl with displeasure while he brushed her tears away. Only she, Cassie and Gwen understood what he said, but no doubt the others got the conviction behind it from his tone, “I will
never
, leave you alone.”

She left tucked up under his arm, clinging to his massive body in a way that made her heart flutter with relief. Glad, that Ohlen made her feel that safe. That cherished. She hoped he wasn’t a dumbass and didn’t tell Andi things that he thought she didn’t need to know, or wouldn’t understand. “Commander Brennaugh said he was preparing his warriors, I don’t know how long it will take, but if there are warriors aboard who react to your scents, I expect they’ll be brought over quickly to meet us. I gave the guy a serious talking to about what not to do with humans, he gave his word of honor that any female to be called would be given full disclosure. I don’t know why I trust that he’ll keep his word, but I do. I’ll leave that up to you to decide for yourselves. We’ll reconvene in the morning, see what Andi has for us.”

Most everyone nodded, but Gwen and Cassie remained at the table with her, looking just as pissed and upset as she felt. “So,” Cassie said tightly, her hands folded on the table top so tightly that her knuckles were white, while Gwen sat there rubbing the heel of her hand into her sternum. She wondered if the other women had felt that punishing snap, the loss of feeling from their men along that fragile bond. “What are we going to do about our trio of dickheads?” She shook her head and went for it, lay it out there for the two women in the same boat as her. “I’ve lost the majority of trust in mine. I felt the bond growing between us, snap. He didn’t seem to understand why I was so pissed, but certainly felt the absence of my emotions.”

“I thought it was just me.” Gwen murmured painfully, and Cassie bravely bluffed her way through it. “I’m thanking the stars right now that I’m back in my own god damn head. Don’t know what you’re so upset about. I’m glad now that asshole won’t get to be peeking inside my head uninvited. Using that sexy growl and shit to tempt the fuck out of me.” She turned bright pink when she realized she’d said that last bit out loud.

It made her lips twitch, but feeling as low down as she was right now, she couldn’t muster much spunk in her. Gwen didn’t seem to have any such problem. She slapped both her hands down on the table with a little shriek. “Who the fuck do they think they are? Who the fuck does he think
he
is? I’m the god damn human doctor that’s been treating humans for almost ten years, he’s been discovering humanity for the past ten
days
! And he just brushes me off like I’m a nonsense little bit of fluff? I don’t fucking think so!” Gwen struggled to breathe then, a shaky indrawn breath while her tears warred with her rage, and when Ga’rae’s voice immediately barked out over the intercom, demanding to know what was wrong, her pretty face nearly turned purple with fury. “You mean you can’t
feel
me, moose?” She cooed, and Ga’rae growled, “I have asked that you not call me that, my one. What I did ask was a question, your vital signs are extremely erratic.”